When in Doubt, Add Butter

By: Beth Harbison

Narrated by: Orlagh Cassidy

Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

From the New York Times best-selling author of Shoe Addicts Anonymous and Always Something There to Remind Me comes a delicious new novel about the search for true love and all the ingredients that go into it.

As far as Gemma is concerned, her days of dating are over. In fact, it’s her job to cater other peoples’ dates, and that’s just fine by her. At 37, she has her own business, working as a private chef, and her life feels full and secure. She’s got six steady clients that keep her hands full.

There’s Lex, the fussy but fabulous department store owner who loves Oysters Rockefeller and 1950s comfort food; Willa, who needs to lose weight under doctor’s orders but still believes butter makes everything better; a colorful family who may or may not be part of the Russian mob; an überwealthy Georgetown family; the picture-perfect Van Houghtens, whose matriarch is “allergic to everything”; and finally, a man she calls “Mr. Tuesday,” whom she has never met but who she is strangely drawn to.

For Gemma, cooking is predictable. Recipes are certain. Use good ingredients, follow the directions, and you are assured success. Life, on the other hand, is full of variables. So when Gemma’s takes an unexpected turn on a road she always thought was straight and narrow, she must face her past and move on in ways she never would have imagined. Because sometimes in life, all you need is a little hope, a lot of courage, and - oh yes - butter.

©2012 Beth Harbison (P)2012 Macmillan Audio

Frustrating Read

This is my first Beth Harbison book. I am not sure I will try her other books. Ms. Harbison creates very interesting characters and the dialog is often witty and humorous. Several critical components necessary to a good book are there. But the interesting characters were unfortunately the secondary characters and they were not utilized fully. This was one of those books that when you finished it, you had no interest in learning what happened next to the main characters, but felt a mild curiosity about some of the secondary ones' futures.

There were three critical flaws with the plot. First, the first half of the book meanders along with basically no plot. She introduces eccentric characters, has some funny dialog, but there is really no story there. Then once she gets to the main relationship of the book, she rushes through it so rapidly, it makes absolutely no sense. She spends so little time on the budding relationship between Gemma and Mac it is hard for the reader to accept that in the last 30 minutes of the audiobook they realize they are madly in love, willing to make major changes in their lives and he accepts what she has been hiding as if it is no big deal. They were virtual strangers. There was no relationship there one minute and the next, they were soul mates who lived happily ever after.

The second flaw was that she did create sympathetic secondary characters and Gemma makes some pretty strong commitments to some of them. Commitments that she evidently abandons, based on the epilogue. That makes Gemma unsympathetic and dislike-able to me. Other characters you become interested in either just disappear or you get a rushed update on them in the epilogue that doesn't bring closure to the characters, and actually seem so out of character you wonder if she forgot what she had written about them previously.

Finally, plots based on coincidences, poor timing, and a characters inability to clear things up when they first get the chance are almost always weak. This was no exception. It was so obvious who the mysterious Mac was it was hard to accept that Gemma really couldn't figure it out. This book would have been much more entertaining if the focus was on building the relationship between the two characters, not on the number of times they "almost" figured it out. It all seemed artificial and contrived.

I finished this book with a sense that the author sat down to write a book that could be narrated in 7 hours and 55 minutes. Shed dilly dallied along with her characters until she looked at the clock, realized she had already written 7 hours and 25 minutes of content and spent the remaining 30 minutes developing and adding an actual plot, bringing it to a conclusion and writing an epilogue.

I've read enough "Chick Lit" to know that they often spend more time on the main characters "inner thoughts" than an actual plot. That can work if the main character's "inner thoughts" are remotely interesting. In this book, they weren't.

The narration was very good. If it had not been I would not have finished this book.

Another great Beth/Orlagh book!

I love both of these amazing women together. The stories are often both funny and endearing. And Orlagh Cassidy is my favorite narrator.

Great Book

Really enjoyed the book. Disappointed that the epilogue wrapped up the rest of the book in 15 minutes. Felt like it needed more time.

I enjoyed it

I thought it was a cute story. Will I think about it now after I am done with it, nope. But it kept me entertained and I liked the characters. I really thought that Orlagh Cassidy did a great job.

Great story.

Love Beth Harbison and Orlagh Cassidy. A perfect combination. Better with each reread. Want to read the rest of her titles.

Recognition that the past has an impact on the present but it does not cancel out the future.

Super simplistic. At times it was tedious. I purchased the audiobook because it was on sale and I wanted to listen to something different.

Enjoyable listen; marvelous narrator

More depth than typical for this sort of book. Fairly predictable but not stupidly so. I enjoyed the book and appreciated the fine narration. Characterization was mostly strong. Reminded me, sort-of, of Barbara O'Neal's writing.

good listen

Excellent book to listen to. I thought the performance was great and narrator also made me laugh. Description of the different clients the cater had was great.

Better than I thought

I was dubious about this book. I would never read it but it was a comforting and fun listen! Love the narrator.

Fun Read

This book was entertaining from the start and all the way through and Orlagh Cassidy does a fabulous job of reading.